(Together … against the current). The PN mean machine continues to build on its earlier plagiarism of Sarkozy’s “Ensemble tout est possible” slogan. This time round the geeks at Dar Centrali have come up with a mind-boggling slogan for the European Parliament elections. You see they must have thought long and hard for a credible slogan that will basically sell itself without any further explanation.
They needed that kind of slogan that says it all. One that is as credible as the hodge-podge of candidates for all seasons. So they must have thought about the current international scenario – you know the one I am talking about… the economic crisis, the slump in business, the laying off of employees, the tightening of the belt etc etc.
In case you have been dreaming here is Eurostat on the matter:
The statistics agency Eurostat notes that Europe is in the midst of a deep economic recession, with industrial orders falling by 34.5 percent year-on-year. The euro zone’s external current account deficit reached 57.3 billion euros in the final quarter of 2008, almost three times the figure for the same period in 2007. It is not just exports that are declining as a result of the global slump. Direct investment abroad by the EU amounted to just 23.9 billion euros for the last three months of 2008, compared to 171.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007. Foreign investors also disinvested in the EU.
The cost of bailouts and declining tax revenues due to the slump has led to a spiraling of government deficits, which collectively have hit 2.3 percent of GDP for the 27-nation EU. The government debt to GDP ratio increased from 66 percent at the end of 2007 to 69.3 percent in the euro zone and from 58.7 percent to 61.5 percent in the EU. Europe’s GDP is expected to fall by 1.2 percent, with the economy predicted to shrink by two percent, according to a report by the European Economic Advisory Group.
Unemployment is set to rise by an average rate of eight percent.
There you go. I guess you really get the picture. Now the PN team surely know that Malta too is a member of that EU. The very same EU that has an unemployment level that is set to rise by an average of eight percent. Do note the word AVERAGE. In some countries it might be more. So what do the whizz kids at Dar Centrali want us to believe?
Last week the prize for against-all-odds optimism went to Alistair Darling and his Wonderland Budget. This week it surely must go to the Gonzi team spearheaded by Simon Busuttil. Their slogan?
Flimkien – ingibu izjed xoghol ghalik. (Together we will get more work for you).
Spiffin’ innit?
